Panel focuses on women’s role in peace efforts

World Politics\\ It was all about wonder women at the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony held in October 2011. For the first time in seven years, three women, two from Liberia, were conferred the honour. The award was given jointly to the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Liberian peace activist Leymal Gbowee; and Yemenese journalist and pro-democracy campaigner Tawakkul Karman for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”. Tawakkul is the first Arab woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Sirleaf, the first woman President of Liberia, has played a key role in establishing peace in the region and in working towards social and economic equality. Gbowee was lauded for her work in bringing about peace in the war-stricken Liberia. Substantiating the importance of women in the peace-building process, the Nobel Panel’s statement read, “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels.”